text:
Canada was a founder member of the Commonwealth in 1931 when its independence was recognised under the Statute of Westminster, and Arnold Smith of Canada was the first Commonwealth Secretary-General (1965–75).
In 2013 short story writer Alice Munro was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature and Eliza Robertson won the Commonwealth Short Story Prize.
Three Canadians have won the Commonwealth Writers' Prize: Mordecai Richler, in 1990; Rohinton Mistry (born in Bombay, India), in 1992 and 1996; and Lawrence Hill, in 2008.
The Commonwealth Association for Public Administration and Management has its HQ in Ottawa, the Commonwealth of Learning in Vancouver and the Commonwealth Journalists Association in Toronto.
The second largest country in the world, Canada comprises the northern half of the North American continent, bordering with the USA to the south and north-west (Alaska). It is bounded by three oceans: the Pacific to the west; the Arctic to the north; and the Atlantic to the east. Indented shores and numerous islands (some very large) give it the longest coastline of any country at 202,100 km. Cape Columbia on Ellesmere Island is 768 km from the North Pole.
Canada is a federation of ten provinces and three territories. The provinces (and provincial capitals) are: Alberta (Edmonton), British Columbia (Victoria), Manitoba (Winnipeg), New Brunswick (Fredericton), Newfoundland and Labrador (St John's), Nova Scotia (Halifax), Ontario (Toronto), Prince Edward Island (Charlottetown), Québec (Québec), Saskatchewan (Regina); and the territories (and capitals): Northwest Territories (Yellowknife), Nunavut (Iqaluit) and Yukon (Whitehorse). Nunavut was formed in April 1999 – from the eastern and central parts of the Northwest Territories – as a semi- autonomous region for the Inuit people.
Ottawa (capital, Ontario, pop. 883,391 in 2011), Toronto (Ontario, 5.13m), Montréal (Québec, 3.4m), Vancouver (British Columbia, 2.13m), Calgary (Alberta, 1.09m), Edmonton (Alberta, 960,015), Québec (696,946), Winnipeg (Manitoba, 671,551), Hamilton (Ontario, 670,580), Halifax (Nova Scotia, 297,943), Saskatoon (Saskatchewan, 222,035), Regina (Saskatchewan, 192,796), St John's (Newfoundland and Labrador, 165,346), Fredericton (New Brunswick, 61,522) and Charlottetown (Prince Edward Island, 42,602).
The country has 1,042,300 km of roads, including an extensive network of expressways. The 7,821 km Trans-Canada Highway is the longest national highway in the world.
East–west routes predominate on both the privately owned freight railway systems. The total system extends over 58,345 km. Toronto and Montréal have underground urban railway systems, called the Subway and Metro respectively.
The St Lawrence Seaway, opened in 1959, provides a water transport system from the Atlantic Ocean to the head of the Great Lakes. It has a system of locks to lift vessels 170 metres between Montréal and Lake Superior. Of the many international ports, the busiest is Vancouver. Remote areas are accessible only by air. There are well over 1,000 airports, more than 800 with paved runways.
Canada is a member of Asia–Pacific Economic Cooperation, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Organisation for Economic Co- operation and Development, Organisation internationale de la Francophonie, Organization of American States, United Nations and World Trade Organization.
With the USA and Mexico, Canada is a member of the North America Free Trade Association.
There are six physical regions. The largest is the Precambrian (or Canadian) Shield, the dominant geological feature of the country. It consists of ancient, very hard rocks to the north of the St Lawrence river, occupying nearly half of Canada's total area and including plateau-like highlands with thousands of lakes and rivers. Almost a quarter of the world's fresh water is concentrated here.
The second region is the Appalachian mountains to the east, which cover Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and part of Québec. The mountains have been eroded by glaciers, wind and water over 300 million years; their highest elevation, in Gaspe's Shickshock Mountains, is under 1,300 metres.
The third region is the Great Lakes–St Lawrence Lowlands in the south-east, stretching from Québec City to Lake Huron. It is the country's most productive agricultural area.
The fertile Interior Plains or prairies, the fourth region, are a vast expanse of land and sky, rising gently from Manitoba to Alberta and spreading northward through the Mackenzie river valley to the Arctic Ocean.
The Western Cordillera, the fifth region, is a rocky spine of mountains along the Pacific coastline. The Cordillera stretches from South America to Alaska, and the Canadian portion includes many peaks over 3,000 metres, the highest being in the Rocky Mountains.
The Arctic region, finally, consists of hundreds of islands, covering an area of 2,800 km by 1,800 km and reaching to Canada's northern tip.
In the High Arctic, temperatures rise above freezing for only a few weeks in July/August. The boreal forest area is snow- bound for more than half the year and precipitation is light, except along the Labrador coast.
The eastern Atlantic region has changeable winter temperatures and heavy snowfall. Fog is common, especially in Newfoundland and Labrador. July/August temperatures are 16–18°C. Winter also brings heavy snowfalls to the Great Lakes–St Lawrence region; but summer temperatures average almost 20oC, with heat waves.
The prairies have cold winters and hot summers, with rapid air flow bringing dramatic weather changes. Annual average precipitation in southern Saskatchewan is less than 350 mm, compared with 1,110 mm in Vancouver, to the west.
The coast of British Columbia has the most temperate climate in Canada.
The most significant environmental issues are damage to forests and lakes by acid rain, and contamination of oceans by waste and run-off from agriculture, industry and mining.
The Appalachian region is heavily wooded, with mixed sugar maple and spruce. Similar forests flourish in the Great Lakes–St Lawrence Lowlands, and white pine, spruce and fir thrive in the south of the Precambrian Shield. The far north of the Shield and the Arctic are too cold for trees, but mosses, lichens, short grasses and dwarf shrubs burst into life and quickly fade in a six- week summer.
A desert-like sweep of short grasses in the southernmost parts of Alberta and Saskatchewan is succeeded further north by fertile grasslands, where millions of ponds provide breeding grounds for half of North America's ducks, geese, swans and pelicans, and for mosquitoes. British Columbia is heavily forested, containing some huge trees including some 1,000 year-old Douglas firs.
Purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria), thought to have arrived from Europe in the 1890s, is causing havoc to wildlife in marshes, ponds and stream banks. Arable land comprises five per cent of the total land area and forest 34 per cent, there having been no significant loss of forest cover during 1990–2012.
Canada has 34 national parks, including the Rocky Mountains NP. In the tundra of the far north are found seals, polar bears, the gigantic musk-oxen and caribou. In the extensive stretches of forest are moose, brown, black and grizzly bears, and beavers, one of Canada's national symbols. The grasslands were once home to enormous herds of bison but extensive hunting means these are now only to be found in wildlife reserves. Some 11 mammal species and 13 bird species are thought to be endangered (2014).


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PARIS – The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention on Monday highlighted the practice of arbitrary detention, which it emphasized takes place in all countries, affecting thousands of people each year.
At an event in Paris marking the 20th anniversary of the Working Group, three personalities from Ethiopia, Myanmar and Syria who had been arbitrarily deprived of their freedom for exercising their human rights spoke about their experiences. Haithem Al-Maleh, a former judge and Syrian human rights defender, has been imprisoned several times for his criticism of the human rights situation in the country. Birtukan Mideksa, a former judge and leader of a political party in Ethiopia, was sentenced to life imprisonment prior to her release. Aung San Suu Kyi also addressed the event via a video message.
The Working Group's official Opinions on their cases and more than 600 others are now available in a public online database, launched today.*
Over the last 20 years, the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has developed extensive jurisprudence relating to international human rights norms and standards applicable to different forms of deprivation of liberty. The database, which has been made available online with the assistance of Thomson Reuters and Freedom Now, will ultimately contain all publicly available documents adopted by the Working Group, including its country visit reports and annual reports which also refer to mandate related thematic issues. These will be available in English, French and Spanish.
"The database is an indispensable tool for the victims, legal practitioners, States, national human rights institutions, academics and civil society," said El Hadji Malick Sow, who currently heads the expert panel.
"All countries are confronted by the practice of arbitrary detention. It knows no boundaries and thousands are subjected to it every year either because they have exercised their fundamental rights, or because they have been unable to benefit from the guarantees of a fair trial, or for other reasons, like the growing practice of administrative detention for asylum seekers," he added.
Bacre Ndiaye, the Director of the Human Rights Council and Special Procedures Division of the UN Human Rights Office added that the Working Group's mandate has never been as relevant as it is today.
"Arbitrary detention has become endemic and is more and more, in the context of recent protests around the world, used as a weapon to silence and eliminate all opposition," he said.
Mr. Sow added that the Working Group is a truly universal mechanism for dealing with cases of arbitrary deprivation of liberty. The Group's Opinions are based on legal norms prohibiting arbitrary deprivation of liberty as expressed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as well as instruments like the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Unlike other international and regional human rights mechanisms, the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention is not bound by the rule that an individual has to exhaust domestic remedies before approaching it.
The new database can be accessed at www.unwgaddatabase.org.
(*) Some of the released detainees whose cases were followed up by the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention include: Aung San Suu Kyi (Myanmar); Xanana Gusmao (East Timor); Vilik Ilitch Oganessov and Artavaz Aramovitch Mirzoyan (Azerbaijan); Carmen Julia Arias Iglesias (Cuba); Mohamed Abd El Raziq Ahmad Ali (Egypt); Birtukan Mideksa, Yohannes Gurmessa and Yahehirad Kitaw (Ethiopia); Muchtar Pakpahan and Maiyaish Johan (Indonesia); Ahmed Belaichi (Morocco); Mohamed Moussa, Akoli Daouel, Alhassane Gogo (Niger); Miguel Ruiz Cornejo Márquez, Fresia Calderón and Edilberto Rivas Rojas (Peru); Jesus Salvino and Noe Andalan (Philippines); Manouchehr Karimzadeh (Islamic Republic of Iran); Haithem Al-Maleh, Jihad Khazem, Mustafa Khalifa and Ibrahim Habib (Syrian Arab Republic); Qi Dafeng, Wanh Juntao, Yulu Dawa Teering, Yang Libo, Pasang Dolma and Hu Hai (People's Republic of China); Ahmet Turk Sedat Yurttas (Turkey); Pulat Akhunov (Uzbekistan); Pham Cong Canh, Nguyen Quoc Minh, Tran Ngoc Nghien and Hoang Minh Chinh (Viet Nam).
The Working Group was established by the former Commission on Human Rights in 1991 to investigate instances of alleged arbitrary deprivation of liberty. Its mandate was clarified and extended by the Commission to cover the issue of administrative custody of asylum-seekers and immigrants. In 2010, the Human Rights Council confirmed the scope of its mandate and extended it for a further three-year period. The Working Group is comprised of five independent expert members from various regions of the world. The Chair-Rapporteur is Mr. El Hadji Malick Sow (Senegal) and the Vice-Chair is Ms. Shaheen Sardar Ali (Pakistan). Other members include Mr. Mads Andenas (Norway), Mr. Roberto Garretón (Chile) and Mr. Vladimir Tochilovsky (Ukraine).
Learn more about the mandate and activities of the Working Group, log on to: http://www2.ohchr.org/english/issues/detention/index.htm
For more information and media requests please contact Mr. Miguel de la Lama (Tel.: +41 22 917 9289 / email: [email protected]) or write to [email protected]
For media inquiries related to other UN independent experts:
Xabier Celaya, UN Human Rights Media Unit (+ 41 22 917 9383 / [email protected])
The Brussels based United Nations Regional Information Centre for Western Europe - UNRIC provides information on UN activities to the countries of the region. It also provides liaison with institutions of the European Union in the field of information. Its outreach activities extend to all segments of society and joint campaigns, projects and events are organized with partners including the EU, governments, the media, NGOs, schools and local authorities.
United Nations Regional Information Centre for Western Europe (UNRIC Brussels)
Residence Palace, Rue de la Loi/Wetstraat 155, Block C2,7th and 8th floor, Brussels 1040, Belgium
Tel.: +32 2 788 8484 / Fax: 32 2 788 8485

subset: commoncrawl


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Weezer are to tour New Zealand and Australia for the first time in sixteen years, playing their greatest hits and "the Blue album" from start to finish.
"Weezer kept joy alive in arena rock" – Pitchfork Media (on The Blue Album)
"Weezer (The Blue Album) has refused to lie down and continues to influence new generations of emo and pop-punk bands. As a result, this is a record that will feel very familiar to dedicated fans and newcomers alike." – BBC
"These four thrift-store-clad guitar boys seem almost like visionaries." – Rolling Stone (on The Blue Album re-release)
It has been sixteen long years since Weezer's one and only tour of Australasia. After incessant rumours of potential tours, the resultant fervour that has taken over the nation's music fans remains unrivalled. Chugg Entertainment is excited to be bringing the band to our shores, with the opportunity to vindicate the enthusiasm and persistence of their fans all over the country. Greater still, their tour brings with it a follow thru from their recently announced US concept shows; performing a collection of greatest hits and rarities in addition to The Blue Album, from start to finish.
This visit will be both a celebration for older fans, reveling in nostalgia from Weezer's storied Pinkerton tour of 1996, and an introduction to a younger generation working their way back from more recent albums. Such is the anticipation of this announcement that these shows are more than just a tour; they represent a culmination of years of collective longing.
Weezer will play Auckland's Vector Arena on Friday 11th January.
With material spanning the best part of two decades, Weezer remain committed to their roots. They have spent the past year sending ardent fans into fits of nostalgia, playing their two seminal albums from the 90s in their entirety. Whether they were setting sail with thousands of fans to Mexico on their inaugural Weezer Cruise or sharing the stage (and signature space balls) with the Flaming Lips, the band were always quick to hark back to their early material that has proved to be so influential on today's musical landscape.
With their satiating practice of playing albums in full, last month Weezer announced they'd be wrapping up 2012 with a series of shows in the USA featuring their seminal eponymous debut and its revered follow up Pinkerton. As luck would have it, the band are bringing this tradition to our shores and will be playing their legendary debut, affectionately known as "The Blue Album", in full which will be prefaced by the band's greatest hits and rarities.
Emerging in 1994 as four awkwardly geeky young men from California, Weezer have surpassed anyone's expectations and have gone from being the unlikely cult heroes of 90s alt-rock to consummate arena rock luminaries. Throughout this ever-evolving career, the band has cultivated an interactive relationship with their fans old and new. They have worked to create an unsurpassed experience for these fans both on and off the stage.
Weezer's long anticipated return will finally bring this special experience to New Zealand.
Tickets On Sale Thursday 26th, 9am


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Performance by an actor in a leading role:
Bradley Cooper, Silver Linings Playbook
Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln
Hugh Jackman, Les Misérables
Joaquin Phoenix, The Master
Denzel Washington, Flight
I hope Bradley wins because I still feel bad for him that everyone got so mad that he was People's Sexiest Man of the Year instead of Ryan Gosling in 2011. Do I think it was an oversight on People's part? Sure. Is that Bradley's fault? Absolutely not. Probably ugly people were complaining all over Twitter saying Bradley wasn't sexy enough, which I think is just rude and untrue. Who amongst us non-famous cretins would kick him out of bed for eating crackers? I can't even say with certainty that I'd kick him out of bed for pooping in it. He is that sexy. Oscar for Bradley!
Performance by an actor in a supporting role:
Alan Arkin, Argo
Robert De Niro, Silver Linings Playbook
Philip Seymour Hoffman, The Master
Tommy Lee Jones, Lincoln
Christoph Waltz, Django Unchained
I haven't even seen the trailer for The Master, but I loved Philip Seymour Hoffman in Pirate Radio.
Performance by an actress in a leading role:
Jessica Chastain, Zero Dark Thirty
Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook
Emmanuelle Riva, Amour
Quvenzhané Wallis, Beasts of the Southern Wild
Naomi Watts, The Impossible
I pick Jessica because she has red hair and because it looks like her character is like a Carrie Mathison with better common sense decision making skills.
Performance by an actress in a supporting role:
Amy Adams, The Master
Sally Field, Lincoln
Anne Hathaway, Les Misérables
Helen Hunt, The Sessions
Jacki Weaver, Silver Linings Playbook
I chose Jacki Weaver by process of elimination because I don't actually have any idea who she is, and I have no time to Google such nonsense. "No" to Sally Field because it freaks me out that she has always looked exactly the same since she was on Gidget. This is not a compliment to how well she is aging, but an insult to her former self that she has always looked like a 60 year-old woman without wrinkles. "No" to Amy Adams because I think her strawberry blonde hair is very non-committal. "No" to Helen Hunt because I don't like that her and Paul Reiser divorced at the end of Mad About You. A "No" to Anne Hathaway because her acceptance speeches are like the open auditions week on American Idol where I have to constantly look down at my phone and say "Ahhhh, I can't take it" over and over until it stops. So, congrats, Jacki.
Best animated feature film of the year:
Mark Andrews and Brenda Chapman, Brave
Tim Burton, Frankenweenie
Sam Fell and Chris Butler, ParaNorman
Peter Lord, The Pirates! Band of Misfits
Rich Moore, Wreck-It Ralph
Brave for the red head girl and because I think Tim Burton gets away with too much.
Achievement in directing:
Michael Haneke, Amour
Benh Zeitlin, Beasts of the Southern Wild
Ang Lee, Life of Pi
Steven Spielberg, Lincoln
David O. Russell, Silver Linings Playbook
Nobody. Ben Affleck 4ever!
Best documentary feature:
5 Broken Cameras
The Gatekeepers
How to Survive a Plague
The Invisible War
Searching for Sugar Man
Searching for Sugar Man because it's about one of Honey Boo Boo's family members, right? Sounds fun.
Best motion picture of the year:
Beasts of the Southern Wild
Django Unchained
Les Misérables
Life of Pi
Silver Linings Playbook
Zero Dark Thirty
Ar-go Fuck Yourself! Right?! I chose this as best picture because 1. It is the only movie I have seen of the 10, 2. Ben Affleck 4ever, 3. I liked it even though the last 15 minutes gave me so much anxiety that I started Googling on my phone "how does Argo end?"


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outside the farm
Kent Deimeke delivers farm products
direct to customers
outside the farm
Kent Deimeke delivers farm products
direct to customers
outside the farm
Kent Deimeke delivers farm products
direct to customers
Jeff Joiner
Unlike most backyard
chefs who grill on weekends, Kent Deimeke cooks on Mondays — and
not just a few bratwurst for friends and family. Surrounded by several
gas barbeque grills setup on his driveway, Kent grills dozens of brats
to feed employees of a company in nearby Fulton. So begins another
work week for Kent, a modern breed of Missouri farmer and entrepreneur
who, along with his wife, Lori, is redefining how people in central
Missouri buy food.
A traditional livestock
producer and grain farmer who grew up on a family farm near Martinsburg
in Audrain County, Kent realized he was working too hard for too little
"I just wasn't making ends meet selling calves in town," Kent
says. "I've been farming and in the cattle business all my life
but I just wasn't happy with the farm's cash flow."
began to think of ways to make more income from his sweat and toil. That
was five years ago and today his company, Family Farm Foods, sells
meat, vegetables, eggs and chickens, caters meals for companies and
community events, offers tours of the Deimeke farm for groups and even
features a bed and breakfast inn for guests.
And it all began
with looking for a way to sell things produced on the farm directly
to people.
"Some people
we know had asked about buying meat directly from us so we started
trying to sell sides of beef," says
Kent, who now lives and farms near Shamrock in Callaway County. "We
quickly realized that most people couldn't afford $700 for a side
of beef but maybe they could afford a hundred dollars worth."
and his wife bought a trailer, installed a freezer in it and began selling
cuts of meat at farmers' markets in Jefferson City and Columbia.
At first they were met with skepticism.
"I remember
when we would pull up with a trailer full of frozen meat and other
farmers selling fruit and vegetables would look at us like, 'Who
are the new guys in town?' At first we didn't sell a lot,
but we handed out a lot of brochures and samples of our beef sticks
and jerky and slowly people started buying and coming back to buy more.
They would tell us ours was the best bratwurst they'd ever had
or our T-bone steaks were so good. We soon had a regular clientele."
years ago Kent starting doing something unheard of for a small farmer.
He began delivering meat to his customers' doorsteps. At first
it was just in the winter months when the farmers' markets
were closed, but soon Kent was making deliveries all over central
Missouri year around. He became so busy that last year he stopped
visiting the farmers' market circuit and now
delivers most of his meat, traveling three days a week to Mexico,
Columbia, Jefferson City and as far away as St. Charles. While on
his travels he also keeps more than 40 convenient stores stocked
with his own beef sticks and jerky, all made from cattle raised on
his farm.
Kent sells summer
sausage, ground beef, stew meat, ribs and just about every cut of steak
imaginable as well as his own line of meat seasonings and spices. He
also sells frozen ready-made meals like spaghetti and chili. This year
he added frozen pizzas to his menu. "We're selling the
fire out of our pizzas," says Kent.
And when Kent's
not delivering meat he's likely catering a local
event. On a recent weekend he served several hundred people at
a nearby rodeo. "I
can feed 600, 700 people at one time," the Callaway Electric
Cooperative member says.
Farmily Farm Foods' best
selling catered meal is roast beef and gravy, salad, green beans, homemade
bread and pecan pie, all grown, produced or baked on the Deimeke
farm. He's catered weddings, family reunions, motorcycle
rallies and other events.
When the Deimekes
built a new 7,000-square-foot house on the farm last year they included
space for a small store as well as a commercial kitchen. The home also
houses offices for Lori's crop insurance
business as well as their bed and breakfast inn.
Not satisfied with
having just meat and pork processed and packaged, Kent continues to
look for ways to wring a profit out of the farm. He raises chickens
and sells fresh eggs and fryers. He sells fresh tomatoes, already packaged,
to area grocery stores and grows several acres of sweet corn.
Kent says
his family's success has come from hard work, a willingness
to take risks and offering the best products he can produce.
the meat business you have to gain people's trust. I want
people to come out to farm and see our operation, see how I raise
my cattle."
Kent says consumers
today are more concerned than ever with where and how their food is
produced. Along with two full-time farm hands, he raises cattle without
using any medicines, growth hormones or other chemicals and he also
produces all his own corn, hay and silage. Nearly every
input that goes into his cattle he produces himself and
the results are high quality meat.
The results have
been a steady increase in loyal customers and a growing reputation,
says Kent. He does not advertise, but instead relies on the word of
mouth to spread the news.
"If you've got something that
tastes good and people know what they're
eating and where it's coming from, they'll
pay a premium," Kent
Family Farm Foods is located between Auxvasse and
Montgomery City in Callaway County. For more information
call the Deimekes at (573) 386-5368 or visit their
Web site at www.familyfarmfoods.com.


text:
While Marvel and Disney have been trying to keep the buzz on Iron Man 3 on a low hum, that's all about to change. With the film's release date fast approaching (May 3), the studios have started unveiling the merchandise and they also recently held a long lead press day where they showed selected members of the press about 15 minutes of the movie. In addition, right after watching the awesome-looking footage, we got to interview Robert Downey Jr. as well as Iron Man 3 director Shane Black and Kevin Feige (President of Production at Marvel Studios).
During the interview with Black and Feige, the two talked about creating the film's iteration of The Mandarin, how the film's plot came together, the connective tissue between The Avengers and Iron Man 3, how Downey, Black and Drew Pearce worked together on the dialogue on set, the way Iron Patriot plays a role in the sequel, the stunt-heavy filming of the Air Force One attack sequence, and so much more. If you're looking forward to Iron Man 3, I promise you'll love this interview. Hit the jump to either read or listen to what they had to say.
Note: This interview took place the day before the Super Bowl and it was after Marvel showed us about 15 minutes of Iron Man 3. If you'd like to know what I thought of the footage, here's my spoiler free recap.
In addition, Marvel has just released a new trailer for Iron Man 3, so you might want to watch that first before reading the interview.
And since I know some of you like to read the highlights, here's a few of them from this interview. Just know (slight) spoilers are discussed.
- When Shane Black first came in to meet on the project, they had the basics of the film's plot outlined: a Tony Stark-centric story, they wanted to blow up his life and see how he deals with a nemesis without his suits working, and get him back metaphorically to the cave with a box of scraps like the first film.
- When crafting The Mandarin, Black wanted to interpret the comics character in a more realistic way for the movies that's still recognizable, like The Joker in The Dark Knight.
- This iteration of The Mandarin is a modern day terrorist who's savvy; he knows how to use the media and the intelligence world to his benefit.
- The only connective tissue between The Avengers and Iron Man 3 is the effect of the events from the Avengers on Tony's psyche.
- The story is one of Tony learning to become Tony Stark again outside the armor, vulnerable to these massive new threats.
- Robert, Shane, and Drew Pearce would try to improve lines in the script on the day of shooting by gathering together and thinking about how to "plus" the scene with different dialogue.
- The Iron Patriot armor is created as a response to the events of The Avengers, in that the US Government felt embarrassed that the United States was saved by a group of superheroes and not the government.
- They filmed an Air Force One attack sequence using the Redbull skydiving team and digitally erasing their backpacks. They did 8 to 10 jumps a day for a week.
- Initially, Shane Black wasn't happy with the idea of working with a co-writer, but after a few meetings he and Drew Pearce became good friends and collaborators on the script.
Click here to listen to the audio, otherwise the full transcript is below. Iron Man 3 opens May 3.
Question: So watching the footage today it's kind of interesting that they called his glove "The Gauntlet," is there anything going on with that? Because there's a Marvel thing that's called The Infinity Gauntlet.
Kevin Feige: Whoa.
Shane Black: Wow, we just dived right in.
That was just one thing I picked out of that footage that I thought was really great.
Feige: I think [we] always have sort of called that a gauntlet. The Iron Man gauntlet, not Infinity.
Black: The giant rabbit was fun; we had enormous fun coming to work every day to see that big thing.
Just to clarify something Robert Downey Jr. said in his session, he said that Jon Favreau and he had reached out to you a couple of times so you have been involved in the Iron Man projects before this one.
Black: Only in so far as I knew Robert from a previous movie and Jon and he would come over kind of grumpy, sort of groping for ways to fix the script and they asked me a couple questions. I don't think that I contributed anything too terribly important, although Robert's been kind enough to cite it as having been helpful. I don't remember that very well, frankly. I just remember they came over, we ate some food and I think one of the things Jon's done since then, however, has been very helpful to me on this one. As an actor coming in he had every opportunity to be kind of weird or resentful, like "I did these pictures for four years and now you're doing them?" But instead he was the nicest guy in the world and was extremely beneficial in helping like, "What would you do here, Jon?" and that kind of thing. He's great.
I'm curious how the project came together in terms of story. How early on did you know this was the exact story you guys were going to make and how much did it change along the way?
Feige: Well we first started meeting with Shane in spring of 2011 maybe because you came in on the mix day, I think we were mixing Captain America at Fox and we were having meetings with him there. We knew a few of the elements that have remained. We had pillars of we want it to be: a Tony Stark-centric story, we want to blow up his life and see how he deals with a nemesis without his suits working, get him back metaphorically to the cave with a box of scraps, like the first movie. That has remained and carried on through, and it was one of the reasons we connected with Shane. Because if we wanted to do a big "It connects to The Avengers and then Nick Fury comes in and stuff," I don't think Shane would have been interested in that and I don't I don't think he would have been the right guy for it. But to take a Tony Stark journey and explore his character deeper than we had since the first act of the first film, he was the man. It evolved over the next 8 or 9 months after that into basically what it is now.
Of course during that you also have to sprinkle some things in for the fans, you have to make it part of that bigger world. Can you both talk about finding the balance in your jobs?
Black: I consider the fan base to basically be Marvel's job. Mine is to be a fan and I am one and I have been from a young age, of Iron Man, so for me, I just please me and I hope that pleases the rest of the fans. It should. For instance, one of the joys for me has always been seeing how you take a villain from the comic book and realize him in a slightly more realistic way for the movie, render him for movies in a way that's recognizable, but different. And that's fun. Like the Joker in The Dark Knight is not the Joker from the comic book, but there's just enough of him that you recognize him and go, "Wow, what a creative way of interpreting the Joker for motion pictures." So that was our task here too. The fans love this character The Mandarin and we just said, "Well, what we don't want is this potentially racist, stereotype of a Fu Manchu villain just waving his fist." But we found a way, I think, to get an iteration of The Mandarin that we like. We got very excited about bout having cracked this story when we found out that we could include The Mandarin and give him a character that would be a perfect match, the ultimate Iron Man villain, but without relying too heavily on what the comic book stereotype was.
From what we saw today, I thought what was really compelling about even just that brief glimpse of him was how stage managed he was. To see the set that they had set up for him to deliver his address and see how very savvy the media set up is, and yet the character he's playing is more archetypal and I think more arch than that. It's a really interesting idea, a media terrorist, or a media-age terrorist and certainly something that we can't help but be aware of right now, how those things get used. Was that part of what attracted you to this notion of him?
Black: From the very beginning we were all about that, yeah, the idea of just a real world interpretation of this guy who, I hate to break it to you, but he's not from space in this. The rings are rings. They're showmanship. They're accoutrements. They're paraphernalia of warfare that he sort of drapes himself with. He studies Sun Tzu. He studies insurgency tactics. He surrounds himself with dragons and symbols of warlords and Chinese iconography because he wants to represent this sort of prototypical terrorist who – we use as the example Colonel Kurtz from Apocalypse Now – this guy who may have been an American, may have been a British National, someone who is out there doing field work, supervising atrocities for the intelligence community who went nuts in the field and became this sort of devotee of war tactics, and now has surrounded himself with a group of people over which he presides, and the only thing that unifies them is this hatred of America. So he's the ultimate terrorist, but he's also savvy. He's been in the intelligence world. He knows how to use the media. And taking it to a real world level like that was a lot fun for us.
It's interesting because obviously when Iron Man started part of what was so appealing about Jon's approach was how grounded it was, how real world it was, and now over the course of the rest of the Marvel movies, you've introduced a god from Asgard, space aliens, Loki, and all these truly fantastic elements and yet you still have to have Tony grounded in something recognizable. Has that been a balancing act in this film? Is there some sense that the fantastic has changed him and then changed how he deals with this world that he lives in?
Feige: Yes, and it sort of answers your other question, which is that the only real connective tissue we wanted from Avengers in this movie was Avengers' effect on Tony's psyche. This man who comes from this grounded universe – I always say it's grounded enough although he builds an iron suit and flies around – the notion that Tony Stark, who is the shit and always thought of himself as top dog, now has been to outer space, nearly got killed by freaking aliens, has encountered a god that can smash him across the forest with a hammer, has encountered a guy that his father used to talk about from 1945. It's no mistake that we meet Tony at the beginning of this movie and he's just building suits, putting himself in the suit, and he's much more comfortable when he's in the suit. And a lot of this movie is about Tony learning to become Tony Stark again outside the armor, and he has a little help in that his house is completely destroyed.
Black: He's in a world where all of the sudden, without this armor, there's elements with which he cannot hope to compete. So his comfort in his own skin has diminished at the start of this movie by the fact that he feels like, unless he can build the perfect man, he's going to be outdone and outshone by these people who are literally gods. So how he can then have those suits taken away from him until he's just a man and he can't possibly compete, that was the impetus for this movie, rip everything off him and say, "Yes, you're alone with these incredible forces aligned against you, and you don't even have your armor."
Feige: And in all of our films, particularly this one with what Shane and Drew Pearce have done, you can have heightened elements. Look at Avengers, you can have these crazy otherworldly things as long as the way the characters are responding to those things…the emotional response of the characters, that's where grounding it in reality is most important. Even in the comics, by the way, that's the difference between caring about a comic book character and not, is if their emotional response is believable and is appropriate. Certainly what Tony is going through based on the events of Avengers is very real and, is not quite as dire as this, but is a form of post-traumatic stress. He is actually dealing with it in a way you don't see superheroes deal with it much.
Black: It's almost like a sub-genre in a way of taking a comic book movie and then imposing on it what would happen in the real world if this happened. And people have done that with "Damage Control" or whatever, so this is just more about trying to maintain the sense of reality form the first Iron Man given that there's a god from space. Because if in the middle of Iron Man, when he was in the cave with Yinsen and Thor came in you would say, "What the hell is this movie? That doesn't make any sense." But now, Thor is there so what does that mean for our character?
When in the process did you come in to it? How much had Marvel and Marvel Film Division mapped out what Iron Man 3 was going to be? And at any stage in the process did you guys go, "Well we better take it down because we can't go bigger than Avengers right after Avengers?"
Black: They said that to me upfront and I agree. That was the touchstone of the first meeting was that we can't go bigger than we've just gone.
Feige: Well it would be a fool's errand to do that. There's no reason to do that. Shane was in early days. Again we wanted to get Tony, we were sort of internally talking about, back to basics, metaphorically blow him up on a convoy, put him back in a cave and see what he can do with a box of scraps. That was about as far as we had – and it was not an Avengers-centric story outside of just the effect that all of it has had on him. So no Nick Fury, no Black Widow; those were really the only parameters. And we did want him to have a mystery to uncover and solve that he would [be] on his own for. That was about it and then Shane and Drew brought it to life. And we certainly are looking over their shoulders and giving them input every step along the way, but it was a collaboration form that point.
We talked a little bit with Robert earlier about how in the first two films he would come up with lines on the spot or change things and I'm curious about his collaboration with you on this one. How much was he sticking to the script? How much were you guys fiddling with the dialogue on the day of?
Black: Well, he was sticking to the script, but the script wasn't necessarily being written far in advance [laughs]. The script would be written sometimes a day or two in advance, but we'd have an outline for a scene. Often what it was was we would have all the jokes lined up, or all the dialogue, or all the points and beats lined up, but we would play the game of plus-ing. Which was we would say "Okay Robert, here's your line," and he would go, "Eh, okay, I can say that but I think we can beat it," and I'd go, "Okay we're shooting soon, let's plus it, what do you want?" And then we would sit and we would talk, we would try to come to something that had that shape, but that was plus-ed. Sometimes it would Drew Pearce chiming in and we'd go, "Okay that's a plus," then Robert would say something. We tried to keep all the good stuff. Every once and a while someone would have an idea that we didn't like and we'd say, "No, no that's a minus." It was an evolving process, but the script was always there, there was always a fallback, that was great. We could always get one that was the script and then we could say, "Try to plus." It was like when I worked with Bruce Willis back then when Bruce used to do a lot of improving. Get one that's the script, then talk to Bruce and play. And we'll always have the base line, then if you can plus it, terrific. The experience with me was that most of the time Robert could plus what was there, or the collaboration of Robert, Drew, and myself in a room for 20 minutes prior to shooting would enhance what was there and it was usually better than when we walked into that trailer.
In these Iron Man movies it seems like in every other scene he's got a new suit. In this one we've seen the Mark 47 and Iron Patriot. Can you talk a little bit about those, how they came into the script, and what they're bringing to it?
Feige: Yeah, you know we've seen, through Avengers, 7 or 8 suits and we wanted to progress that in this one. It's part of, again, the effect Avengers had on him is that he's tinkering even more than he did before and he's building much more than he ever did before. The Iron Patriot is also kind of a response to Avengers. It's a government rebrand of War Machine, frankly because the US government felt that they were slightly embarrassed by the events of Avengers. These crazy heroes known as "The Avengers" were the ones that saved the day, saved New York City, saved United States; not the government. The government felt they needed a hero of their own, they have a military officer that has one of these suits, and they paint it red, white, and blue. They pose it next to the president and Tony sort of rolls his eyes, you saw a little bit of that today. They want a hero of their own. And Tony's like, "What do you mean, I'm a hero?" And they say "Well you've been spending a lot of time in your workshop. We want somebody we can rely on." So that's sort of how the Iron Patriot came about. And, again, it's a thing from the comics, we just thought the Iron Patriot suit looked equal parts cool and slightly goofy in the comics. It's not Norman Osborne or any of that stuff obviously, but it gave us a place to go with Rhodey. We wanted to take Rhodey and his sort of split loyalties between his friend and his duty and keep carrying that storyline through.
I have to ask, just to add on to that, the toy images that were leaked of the deep space suit, can you comment on what that is?
Feige: Well I would say that I've owned a number of "Jungle Attack" Batmans in my time and I don't remember any jungle attack batman sequences, so.
The sequence with Air Force One, which we saw today and is going to be in the full trailers, can you talk about where that came from and filming that sequence?
Black: Well the filming of it was interesting. We decided early on, Drew and I, that I wanted to […] hijack stuff and I wanted to have people in the sky, just falling, and Iron Man is confronted with that image and he's got to get them out of it somehow. The challenge was on the days we said, "Well we'd really love to do this, but we don't want to do just green screen, can we just toss people out of a plane?" and they said, "Well that would probably be unethical." But we found the Redbull skydiving team that was willing to jump out of a plane and have their backpacks erased digitally. It's kind of compelling, the first images you see of people falling in clothes, because people are always in jumpsuits, orange or yellow jumpsuits, and when you just see some girl in a skirt and a guy in a business suit falling it's pretty scary.
Feige: Over the course of almost a week, we did 8 to 10 jumps a day, for a week. It was amazing, amazing footage.
Moonraker did a sequence where it was a 3 week shoot for something that ended up being 8 minutes, 9 minutes.
Feige: And frankly we talked about Moonraker a lot because that sequence is actually pretty impressive, except for the fact that you can see the parachutes, until they cut in to the inserts, which it then doesn't work at all. We wanted to be like that without doing that. And we have an Iron Man suit which is an advantage over Roger Moore.
[To Shane Black] So you came up with the idea for this sequence?
Black: Basically.
Feige: It was he and Drew; it definitely came out of their script conversations.
Black: No it was just me, Drew was…
Feige: It was definitely just Shane.
Black: He was getting the coffee.
Feige: What we loved about it was, how is Tony going to do that? If you remember he says "Jarvis, how many people are in the air?" "13" "How many can I carry?" "4" So what are you going to do?
The moment you hear that line, it's a great hook for a commercial because immediately you need to see the rest of that set piece.
Feige: Oh, good.


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Apple Varieties with approximate ripening date and short description Listed in order of ripening. *ripening dates may vary year to year ...
Since the orchard now has ground cherries, I wanted to share this easy jam recipe. Ground cherries are delicious as a raw fruit, but they ma...
The Northern Spy is a variety we're just finally starting to get a decent crop off. Northern Spy is an heirloom apple that characteristical...
The 2018 apple season started out with not the best weather – it rained and rained and rained some more. One afternoon on a whim, my mother...
Bonnie's Best apples are an apple that were developed right here in Wisconsin. They are a great later season tart apple that are nice and c...
This recipe comes from the Wisconsin Apple Grower's Association Cookbook ...looks good to me :) Coconut Apple Cake Janet Brooks, Oshko...
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OPERATION Fruits and Vegetables
I spent my morning representing farmers on the 'Farm To School Advisory Committee' As I listened to the different groups reporting in to all the work that is being done to not only get our locally grown and produced food into the schools, but also making sure the kids EAT the food I had a realization. These kids NEED to be exposed to more fruits and vegetables at home – at as young of an age as possible.
We really need to expose our children to fruits and vegetables in the home. One of the study's showed that students who already had at least a year of the 'farm to school' program under their belt were more likely to take the fruit and/or vegetable and try it than the schools just starting with the program. This says to me that if we can familiarize our children to fruits and vegetables before they are in the lunch line, afraid to try something they aren't sure thy like. And I don't mean just feeding them the same old broccoli, cauliflower, beans and potatoes. I mean we need to expose them to all kinds of fruits and vegetables, in all different forms, and cooked differently. Maybe then when they see it in line they won't be afraid to try it – heck, they might be excited to try it.
Yes, it's winter here in Wisconsin so fresh fruits and veggies are not plentiful. But, let's work with what we have. Let's find ways to eat more healthfully year round. I'll be the first to admit – I'm not an adventurous eater, not a huge fan of fruits and vegetables – but I am trying. And I plan on continuing to try, to experiment and show my kids that eating fruits and vegetables is just as satisfying as eating sweets.
But I need YOUR help! Do you have a favorite way to prepare a fruit or vegetable? A great recipe you want to share with us? And I'm not necessarily asking how you 'hide' these things in your kids food so they don't know they're eating it.
I (and Diane) will be sharing our findings with you in the weeks and months to come and hopefully I'll be able to share some of your stories as well! And even if we can get a kid to discover one new fruit or vegetable that they actually like – well, I will consider that a success!
3 comments:
- ThePaintedDaisy said...
AWESOME topic! I have lots of great recipes, ideas and thoughts on this topic. My daughter's lunch is often the center of attention at school...not from her classmates, but her TEACHERS! They regularly pass through to see what delicious fruits/veggies Sofia has chosen to bring! Unforunately she hears a lot of "ewwws" and "what's that smelly stuff" from her friends, but at least they see a peer eating real food!
An example is today. Sofia took a dish of raw Asian salad (mung bean sprouts, napa cabbage, shredded carrots, slivered red pepper with a homemade asian dressing that had the basic rice vinegar, veg oil, soy sauce, raw garlic and fresh ginger plus a pinch of stevia) a cup of homemade beef vegetable-barley soup, half a chopped apple and a hershey's kiss!
That's how we eat at home and so that's how my daughter eats. I never gave in to processed food, even when I worked full-time outside the home. I just stuck to simple, whole food recipes and sacrificed a few extra minutes on the weekend to prep for the upcoming week.
I could talk about this all night long :) If you want to talk more Kim, give me a call!
- February 14, 2012 at 9:04 PM
- Kay Radewan said...
Kim...you are so awesome! I only wish I had been better about this when my kids were little. But I am trying to make up for lost time and encourage them to eat ANY fruit or veggie!
Of course you know we love to come see you for your wonderful fresh produce but you're right, winter is tough. A great option anytime is Brennan's Market in Madison. Lots of free samples, different kinds of fruit and veggies and they are so helpful when you are trying to figure out how to buy fruits and veggies you are not familiar with. My kids LOVE to go there, they grab a tooth pick (there's something about toothpicks!) and start sampling almost anything they have out! We've been able to skip lunch because of all the sampling! We have found many new things they like this way. I'm willing to pay a little more if the kids like it and will eat it! Take the time to run to Brennan's, I think you'll love it there!
- February 14, 2012 at 9:15 PM
- Amy Johnson said...
Great conversation starter. When I take Quinn shopping, I let him pick out a fruit or vege we've never tried before. He's more willing to try it because it's new and funky. Also, if kids are involved in growing veges, even in the slightest bit, they seem more interested in eating them. I would love to help you start a kids gardening program!!
- February 15, 2012 at 9:02 AM


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The Livestock Marketing Association (LMA) is reminding the more than 700 producers who got bad checks from the troubled Eastern Livestock Company that they still have "a proven, fiscally sound method for marketing their cattle."
The CEO of the LMA, Mark Mackey, points out that none of the defaults came from a livestock auction. Mackey says livestock auction markets "remain the most secure way to market cattle" because they protect the farmers and ranchers they serve. He says the checks producers get are "backed by a bonded and regulated account and the auction market assumes all of the risk for non-payment."
The Indiana-based Eastern Livestock Company – a brokerage – did not have a bond big enough to cover the $130 Million in losses realized by ranchers. Eastern checks began bouncing last November. Some livestock producers are expected to be put out of business by those losses.
To read the entire article, link here.


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BIG Architects recently unveiled their unusual design for a new library to be built in Astana, Kazakhstan: a twisting infinite loop designed to maximize natural lighting for the library and shading for the interior corridor.
BIG Architects was commissioned to design the Nursultan Nazarbayev Library, which will also serve as a major cultural center for Astana. The basis for the design is the Möbius strip, so that the library's exterior walls form a single, never-ending loop, exposing the interior to more sunlight than in structures with windows perpendicular to the ground. The idea is to offer library patrons enhanced natural light for their reading pleasure.
BIG Architects Unveil Massive Mobius Strip Library for Kazakhstan [Inhabitat]


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More city money for NNDA possible
A $200,000 commitment over two years to beef up Northern Nevada Development Authority (NNDA) work for Carson City managed to clear a preliminary hurdle Thursday, but the heavy lifting is yet to come.
After hearing a report from Rob Hooper, executive director of the regional economic development authority, the board voted 4-1 to instruct city staff to analyze Hooper's funding proposal and seek a source for city money to pay for it. The dissenting vote was cast by Supervisor John McKenna, who voiced worries about Carson City just emerging from difficult times that could come again. Hooper, however, had argued for an upgrade.
"We need to get Carson City focused on a specific program for Carson City," he said. "We are the manufacturing hub of the state. We need to focus on those manufacturers."
The capital city does have a significant number of light manufacturing plants, among the largest Click Bond, Inc., which serves the aerospace industry. Hooper mentioned that industry as talked of a September recruiting trip to Brazil, where there is a strong aerospace connection.
His presentation, however, focused not only on outreach but also on growing existing Carson City plants, helping beef up workforce development, and luring capital for new industrial buildings.
Supervisor Brad Bonkowski, a commercial real estate agent active in NNDA, made the motion to get staff researching whether and how to pay NNDA more in the future. The city already provides almost $25,000 a year as a base allotment for participating in the 4 1/2 counties' regional government development authority. The $200,000 over two years would provide nearly $50,000 for the base allotment, the rest for Carson City-specific efforts.
Bonkowski said growth and retention efforts for existing Carson City manufacturers should have been under way the past decade, so the initiative is overdue.
In other action, the board finalized approval for $2.7 million in debt to upgrade hardware and software for the city's 911 emergency communications system and rejected bids for more than $2 million for an East-West Water Transmission Main project due to a dispute over who submitted the responsive low bid.
Approving the 911 debt was expected. The latter rejection was because the district attorney's office said litigation between the two lowest bidders might delay the project, so it's going out for bid again.


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International cricketer Jack Russell MBE has been a professional Artist for nearly 30 years. Self- taught, he decided to become a painter as a result of frustration at being stuck inside cricket pavilions when "rain stopped play".
Jack paints a wide range of subjects. From landscapes, wildlife, military, portraits and sport. His paintings hang in public and private collections worldwide, from the Tower of London to The Bradman Museum in Bowral Australia. Sittings for his portrait paintings have included HRH Duke of Edinburgh, HRH Duke of Kent, ten Field Marshals of the British Army, Sir Norman Wisdom, Eric Sykes, and Eric Clapton.Sporting icons include Sir Bobby Charlton, Dickie Bird and Phil Taylor.
Jack's cricketing pictures are legendary. He spent over 20 years in the thick of cricketing action for both Gloucestershire and England. Whether it's a Test match or County match who could be more qualified to paint a cricketing scene? He knows the atmosphere and the technical detail of a cricket match inside out. After all, many of the cricket scenes he paints, he's in them!
Jack Russell made his debut in first class cricket for Gloucestershire in 1981at the age of 17 when still at school. Famed for his eccentricities and floppy white sunhat he turned professional the following year and played in 944 matches before retiring in 2004. He made his England debut in 1987, playing in 94 Interntaional matches before retiring from the national team in 1998.
His first test century was scored against Australia in 1989 and in 1995 against South Africa he broke the world record for dismissals in a test match. His aggressive wicket keeping stood up to the stumps to fast bowlers was the fulcrum of Gloucestershires' golden period of success, winning 6 domestic one day trophies in 5 years, including a triple trophy success in 2000.
Awarded MBE for services to cricket in HM Queen's Birthday Honours 1996.
The Jack Russell Gallery is situated on the High Street in the picturesque town of Chipping Sodbury in South Gloucestershire, 12 miles from Bristol. The building dates back to 1560 and was known as The Bell Inn until 1994 when it was purchased by Jack Russell who, after considerable refurbishment, changed its use to an art gallery.
The Gallery houses the Jack Russell art collection, unique in its dedication to the work of one artist, with its high ceiling and flagstone floor creating an ambience rarely found in today's modern buildings, the visitor can browse through at leisure, the original paintings, prints and memorabilia from Jack's world tours both as an international cricketer and artist.
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Jack Russell Gallery
4 Russell Mews
41 High Street
Chipping Sodbury
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01454 329 583
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Project Creator is an ultimate tool to make a project from number of created modules. You can create a website in less than half an hour if you have its modules with yourself.
Also, you can use the technology of Project Creator in your PHP scripts if you have a website and want to implement module installer in it.
How does it work?
When you want to add something inside your project, what do you do?
Copy new files?
Edit existing files
Execute some SQL queries to create/update your tables
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- Create a website in less than half an hour from created modules.
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Required PHP modules: zip (to export modules/projects)
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|Modified Tech Discussion Forum for Tech related discussion for Modified XJ's and MJ's.
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Pre-Production Sneak Peak at Boostwerks Comp Mount
Note that this is not yet a production item. There will probably be some minor revisions to what you see here, but this probably very closely resembles the final design.
When I first bought my XJ I found this site and in reading through interesting threads I found LazyXJs hidden winch. That immediately went on my list of mods to eventually accomplish. Then I found Boostwerks Ultimate XJ Steering Brace and started trying to figure out how to blend the two ideas. Then in December 2014 the Comp Mount showed up on the Boostwerks website. I have been pestering Bryson ever since. Graciously, rather than getting a restraining order against me, he let me be one of the first guinea pigs to help him work out the final details. I have had this for several weeks now, and while I have not yet finalized my installation I have managed to prove that the Comp Mount fits as it should. There are still some details to be checked (most notably the sway bar) and the weather is interfering with progress, but that same weather is affording me the time to present a bit of a preview. For those who have been waiting, here is what is coming:
Bryson gave me a heads up in the fall that he was getting close to having the pre-production parts ready for me. That gave me time to do some hunting for a deal on a Warn M8000 winch. That is what the design is for. I have a Warn 9000XD, but when I had inquired early on in the process Bryson told me that was an unlikely fit on account of the larger size. Lamentably, no one had any Black Friday deals on an M8000, nor could I find anything leading up to Christmas.
Then Bryson contacted me to say the mount was pretty much ready to ship, and did I want it powder coated or bare? I opted for bare fully expecting I would need to grind and maybe re-weld something. Powder coating isnt a particularly forgiving finish when it comes to modifications. Bryson also suggested I should go ahead and try the 9000XD as he had made some alterations from the original design and there was a chance the larger winch would fit. Cool.
A couple of days after Christmas the mount arrived. The Varmints were ecstatic to get a large box to play in. Again I ask, why do I spend money on them at Christmas? It could be saved to spend on the Jeep instead. And get more toys like these:
And I pulled out my winch to get a sense of how it would fit in the Comp Mount itself:
It has to be shifted all the way to the right, but it looks like it could fit. Next is to see what kind of interference is offered by the vehicle.
I pulled off the bumper and held the mount up against the radiator support to mark its perimeter with a Sharpie, then took a look at what I thought should be cut out. Because inside corners have a tendency to be stress risers I tried to incorporate as many of the factory holes as I could for the corners of the cuts.
Picture of the marks I made:
Same picture, but with the intended cuts indicated:
The cuts made:
The new opening:
Next, some areas need to be flattened out for the mount to sit flush against the rails. The instructions for the Comp Mount havent been written, but Bryson sent me a copy of the instructions for the Ultimate Steering Brace. Those call for flattening the seams with a hammer. I found a hammer would get me two thirds of the way, but the last third would just bounce back. I had better luck finishing it off with a clamp.
On the drivers side I had a big old glob of weld booger than a previous owner had applied to said seam. That had to be ground down:
And the factory left behind a nice collection of weld boogers on the passenger side. These had to be ground down too:
And I was able to make a first trial fit (note: no winch and no sector shaft support bearing):
That fit told me that I needed to clean up the line of this flange if I wanted to have any hope of fitting my too-large winch in here:
Next step is to mount the winch in the Comp Mount. I knew I needed to rotate the gear box 180 degrees. Warn has a brief note about this very thing right here:
Link: https://www.warn.com/blog/2011/09/27...b_bumper.shtml
And because links seem to go dead over time, the text of that reads as follows:
The rotation was made for the sake of progress and new gaskets were ordered so that detail could be revisited properly before the final install.
Project "Scope Creep": 1996 4wd 4.0L, AX15
The "Varmint-Mobile": 1997 ZJ Laredo, 4wd, 4.0L, Slushbox
Re: Pre-Production Sneak Peak at Boostwerks Comp Mount
I then was able to attempt the mounting of the winch in the Comp Mount. I thought I could feed the engagement lever through the hole and then line things up, but it would not play nicely. I finally removed it, got things aligned and bolts started and then tried to reinstall it. No luck that way either. This is a detail I am still working on. My goal is to have it accessible through the bumper. When it came to bolting everything up I also had some issues with the gear box interfering with one of the interior gussets, and there was no clearance for the bolts for the fairlead. I initially attributed these problems to my choice of winch, but later Bryson informed me that he forgot to include the spacers that are needed. Production units should come with these. At any rate, I was able to get things assembled well enough to make another test fit:
Note the two pieces of allthread. Those are an assembly aid. At this point I was trying them using the sway bar threads. I have since refined my methods and am using the size of allthread that matches the plates that go in the frame horns. More on this later, but keep it in mind as a very helpful aid.
Getting this unit into place was something I knew would be a challenge. I had asked Bryson about this and he told me he highly recommended a jack, such a transmission jack, and that he liked to have killed himself the first time he tried this. I dont have a working transmission jack (I have a dead one, but that is another project in and of itself). I didnt have high hopes for this, but I tried it anyways:
Yep. That is as high as that jack goes. And I am only running about 3 of lift and 235/75r15s. It is going to take a lot of jack for some folks rigs. A two post lift and a stand-up transmission jack would be the cats meow. I have neither of those. So bench press it was. I employed a Varmint for starting the nuts and bolts while I held the assembly in place. It wasnt too bad getting it up, but keeping it there was another matter. Especially with young hands who have neither the experience nor the strength for the task. But we got it done. And no one died. However, I found a better way when removing the unit. More on that later.
Here are some pics of how it fit:
Note the Sharpie marks on the shroud. Bryson had warned me that I might need to trim the shroud, particularly given my choice of winch. This may not be the case if you are using an M8000. I can bolt things in place, but the winch is definitely pushing against the shroud. I doubt the interference will be good for the plastic. The marks show where I need to cut.
Here you can see how close I am cutting it on the passenger side. This fits, but barely.
Here is the fit on the steering gearbox side:
And another, slightly different view of the same:
And here is clearance to the dampener:
And the same, showing a bit of the steering:
When it came to removing this I simply sat down on my creeper in front of the Jeep and put my knees against the bottom of the winch mount, pulled the bolts and lowered it down using my legs. That was a piece of cake, and the reverse works well too. Forget the bench press method. Those with higher lifts or shorter legs may want a rolling stool. Play around with options and find something that works for your combination.
Now it was time to address the sector shaft support bearing. Instructions call for a 1 3/8 and a 1 5/16 deep well socket. The 1 3/8 is for the new, extended sector shaft nut and the 1 5/16 is for the old nut. On mine I certainly did not need a deep well socket for the original nut. A standard socket would have been fine. Check yours before you order anything. The socket for the new nut is another matter entirely. Deep well isnt deep enough. What you need is extra deep, if you can find it.
When I tried to order my sockets the 1 3/8 was out of stock, so I opted for 35 mm. It is pretty close. Not perfect, but at that size it will do. When it came in I found it too short, so I tried to get a longer one at Napa. No luck on the length, but I will say that Napas pricing was better than Amazons. I got a second socket and then proceeded to make my own extra deep socket.
Here is the challenge:
I decided to trim both in order to get the joint away from the contact area:
Final torque is probably a subject for some personal consideration. Instructions call for 180 ft/lbs (factory spec) with anti-seize (I dont think the factory calls for that, but I do like something on my threads). If you hunt down the tech specs for Permatex they say to Reassemble parts using normal torque values. Personally, I am not so sure about that. From my experience elsewhere, the marketing folks will say just about anything in order to sell a product, regardless of outcome. Here would be the extreme view going the opposite direction: http://benmlee.com/4runner/threads/threads.htm
And this is probably the reasonable compromise position: http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/a.../t-226077.html
I am thinking this rule sounds like the path to take: Using Never Seize versus dry uncoated steel, multiply the specified torque by 0.65.
But that is a personal decision. From a follow the rules so the lawyers dont take your arse perspective you may be best off following the directions.
Project "Scope Creep": 1996 4wd 4.0L, AX15
The "Varmint-Mobile": 1997 ZJ Laredo, 4wd, 4.0L, Slushbox
Re: Pre-Production Sneak Peak at Boostwerks Comp Mount
That aside, back to the Comp Mount.
I had observed that my sector shaft did not exactly line up with the opening for it. Bryson suggested I loosen up the bolts for the steering gear box and try moving it. That did work. With some leverage from a pry bar, like this:
And even at that, it only barely cleared. I think this is one of the changes that will be made in the production units, affording a little more room for adjustment here.
And here is a view of how it clears on the inside (taken through the opening for the fairlead):
And a view from the outside:
Now I needed to try to get everything all together all at once. I made some spacers to solve the problems of mounting both the winch and the fairlead (I expect production units to come with spacers, not necessarily identical to what I did, but effectively the same thing):
And here it is, all together:
With my hand in place to give some sense of clearance:
A side view, looks like a good skid plate to boot:
These next four pictures are to give a sense of clearance and of some of the challenges involved in trying to incorporate additional mounting points in a production piece.
At the drivers side frame horn, no gap:
At the passenger side frame horn, approximately a 1/8 gap:
At the drivers side radiator support, 3/8 gap:
At the passenger side radiator support, ½ gap:
I would still like to attempt to weld in some brackets to tie those pieces in, but that turns this into a fabricators piece. I doubt most customers will want to go to those lengths. As it is, this piece could have been sent to me powder coated and I could have a final installation with no modifications. If I were the manufacturer I would not mess with that. I would say job well done.
I still need to deal with the sway bar. Bryson is sending me some of his drop brackets so I can take care of that detail.
I also still need to get the bumper back up and see what sort of modifications are required to run the front bumper. Odds are this is going to work best with something like a pre-runner bumper, but my goal is to keep this as boring looking as I can.
Once I have the bumper figured out I will then try to figure out the engagement lever.
And there is the mounting of the control box and its associated wiring.
More to come, but this should get folks an idea of what the Comp Mount will be.
Project "Scope Creep": 1996 4wd 4.0L, AX15
The "Varmint-Mobile": 1997 ZJ Laredo, 4wd, 4.0L, Slushbox
Re: Pre-Production Sneak Peak at Boostwerks Comp Mount
Very nice. This would go a long way to strengthen and reinforce the front unitbody.
I already have Boostwerks' steering brace
Re: Pre-Production Sneak Peak at Boostwerks Comp Mount
Thank you for the Eye Candy
Re: Pre-Production Sneak Peak at Boostwerks Comp Mount
It occurs to me, I have neglected a few potentially relevant details regarding the vehicle used in this fit test.
It is a '96.
It has HD Offroad Engineering's frame stiffeners in the front. These have no impact on the fitment. Only possible issue I can see would be if they were positioned such that repositioning of the steering gearbox were limited.
It has a JCR Offroad steering spacer. This pushes the gearbox over a bit further than the stock spacer. The slots in the Comp Mount take care of this just fine.
Project "Scope Creep": 1996 4wd 4.0L, AX15
The "Varmint-Mobile": 1997 ZJ Laredo, 4wd, 4.0L, Slushbox
Re: Pre-Production Sneak Peak at Boostwerks Comp Mount
Post up a bunch of pictures and my hosting service takes a dump. For the third time in as many weeks.
Inmotion hosting doesn't seem to have their act together particularly well lately.
Pictures will be back. At some point.
Project "Scope Creep": 1996 4wd 4.0L, AX15
The "Varmint-Mobile": 1997 ZJ Laredo, 4wd, 4.0L, Slushbox
Re: Pre-Production Sneak Peak at Boostwerks Comp Mount
Beautiful, but too much effort...I'll stick with a plain old winch bumper
The MAC-10 submachine gun was practically designed for housewives.
Pre-Production Sneak Peak at Boostwerks Comp Mount
Looks slick. Cant wait till this goes into production. He will take my money.
Re: Pre-Production Sneak Peak at Boostwerks Comp Mount
On a side note, I'm going in for some much anticipated surgery next week, but getting these to market will be my primary goal once I've recovered.
Thank you again for your help Tom!
99 XJ Sport Build Thread:
Check out our website!
Pre-Production Sneak Peak at Boostwerks Comp Mount
I have been waiting over a year. Ill wait patiently some more. Good luck with your surgery. Speedy recovery.
Re: Pre-Production Sneak Peak at Boostwerks Comp Mount
Action Fab on Pirate4x4 and I believe he was on here for a period of time makes the stubby bumpers. His website is called Off Road Specialties. His bumper is what I fabbed mine out of.
Just another alternative to folks who want a hidden winch plus a bumper
Pre-Production Sneak Peak at Boostwerks Comp Mount
Don't understand the thread jack but those bumpers don't look like they compare close to Bryson's winch mount. His looks to tie in to the uniframe better plus sector shaft support
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Re: Pre-Production Sneak Peak at Boostwerks Comp Mount
I think the idea is that the stubby is a compatible bumper, not an alternative product.
Project "Scope Creep": 1996 4wd 4.0L, AX15
The "Varmint-Mobile": 1997 ZJ Laredo, 4wd, 4.0L, Slushbox
Re: Pre-Production Sneak Peak at Boostwerks Comp Mount
Since this is "pre-production" and I have not seen this piece in person I figured I would voice my only concern. All lateral alignment appears to be controlled by the mounting bolts and the fitment around the bolts. I have no idea how much un unbraced steering box moves during normal offroad use but if there is a hard lateral pull and the whole mount slides say 1/4" to one side and takes the steering box shaft with it, will the steering box survive that? I will put on my flame suit now
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text:
Figure 6-3: CO2 concentration over the past 1000
Aircraft emissions are expected to modify the Earth's radiative budget and climate as a result of several processes (see also Figure 6-1): emission of radiatively active substances (e.g., CO2 or H2O); emission of chemical species that produce or destroy radiatively active substances (such as NOx, which modifies O3 concentration, or SO2, which oxidizes to sulfate aerosols); and emission of substances (e.g., H2O, soot) that trigger the generation of additional clouds (e.g., contrails).
The task of detecting climate change is already difficult; the task of detecting the aircraft contribution to the overall change is more difficult because aircraft forcing is a small fraction of anthropogenic forcing as a whole. However, aircraft perturb the atmosphere in a specific way because their emissions occur in the free troposphere and lower stratosphere, and they trigger contrails, so the aircraft contribution to overall climate change may have a particular signature. At a minimum, the aircraft-induced climate change pattern would have to be significantly different from the overall climate change pattern in order to be detected.
The climatic impact of aircraft emissions is considered on the background of other anthropogenic perturbations of climate. The present assessment is based on the IS92 scenarios used to represent alternative futures in the Second Assessment Report (IPCC, 1996); it does not incorporate recent observed trends in methane (Dlugokencky et al., 1998), nor any implications from the Kyoto Protocol. The scenarios for aircraft flight patterns, fuel burn, and emissions are described in Chapter 9. Atmospheric perturbations are taken from detailed atmospheric models (Chapters 2, 3, and 4), except for CO2 accumulation (which is discussed in this chapter).
The largest, single, known radiative forcing change over the past century is from the increase in CO2, driven primarily by the burning of fossil fuel. Figure 6-3 shows the change in CO2 over the past 1,000 years; the CO2 concentration increased from about 280 ppmv in 1850 to about 360 ppmv in 1990. Figure 6-4 shows six IPCC projections for anthropogenic emissions of CO2 (labeled IS92a-f) and predicted atmospheric CO2 concentrations. We take the central case, IS92a, as the future scenario with which to compare aircraft effects. The central aircraft scenario (Fa1) assessed here matches the economic assumptions of IS92a. Radiative forcing for IS92a is shown in Figure 6-5a, including total radiative forcing and individual contributions.
Figure 6-4: a) Total anthropogenic CO2 emissions (Gt C yr-1) under the IS92 emission scenarios.
Figure 6-4: b) the resulting atmospheric CO2 concentrations (ppmv) calculated using the "Bern" carbon cycle model (IPCC, 1996, Figure 5).
Figure 6-5: a) Radiative forcing components resulting from the IS92a emission scenario for 1990 to 2100. The "Total Non-CO2 Trace Gases" curve includes the radiative forcing from CH4 (including CH4-related increases in stratospheric water vapor), N2O, tropospheric O3, and the halocarbons (including the negative forcing effect of stratospheric O3 depletion). Halocarbon emissions have been modified to take account of the Montreal Protocol and its Adjustments and Amendments. The three aerosol components are direct sulfate, indirect sulfate, and direct biomass burning.
Figure 6-5: b) Non-CO2 trace gas radiative forcing components. "Cl/Br direct" is the direct radiative forcing resulting from Cl- and Br-containing halocarbons; emissions are assumed to be controlled under the Montreal Protocol and its Adjustments and Amendments. The indirect forcing from these compounds (through stratospheric O3 depletion) is shown separately (Strat. O3). All other emissions follow the IS92a scenario. The tropospheric O3 forcing (Trop. O3) takes account of concentration changes resulting only from the indirect effect from CH4 (IPCC, 1996, Figure 6b-c).
Other reports in this collection


text:
OLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Two former Ohio State football players have pleaded not guilty to holding a woman against her will and raping her.
Defensive backs Amir Riep and Jahsen Wint made an initial appearance Thursday in Franklin County Municipal Court in Columbus.
Their attorneys entered the pleas on their behalf.
Both were kicked off the team Wednesday after the charges came to light.
The accuser told police that on Feb. 4 she was having consensual sex with Riep before Wint came into the room and both forced her into sex.
Riep is a cornerback entering his senior season.
Wint is a redshirt senior who would have been in the mix at safety.
Copyright 2020 Associated Press. All rights reserved.


text:
The stingray deaths at the Calgary Zoo have continued to baffle authorities. The cownosed rays began dying en masse this past Sunday in a new exhibit that opened just a few months ago, in mid-February. Toxins or poisons are suspected in the rays' deaths although recent water tests have come up as clean. Zoo veterinarians have eliminated the possibility of moisture lotions or sunblock creams as the source of any contamination of the touch pools.
As sad as the stingray deaths are, the Calgary's Zoo, Botanical Garden, and Prehistoric Park, with over 290 species of animals, has so much more to offer its patrons. Opened in 1929, The Calgary Zoo celebrates its 80th birthday next year.
If you're planning a trip to western Canada, be sure to include the Calgary Zoo in your plans. And here's why you should do that . . .


text:
Search or Explore feature for Strava Routes
Map-based exploring/searching for Routes in the 'Explore' section, similar to the map-based segment explore that currently exists.
If someone has taken the time to create a route, chances are that route is a better indication for a good ride or run route than popular segments.
Currently, when I'm in a new location, I use popular segments from the segment explorer to drill down to activities to ry and identify good routes, in combination with popularity in Route Builder and the Strava labs world heat map. It would be nice to not have to create my own route for every location I visit. Local knowledge is the best!


text:
The Westfield shopping-mall people annoy us. Every property they acquire has to become a "Westfield Shopping Town," which may work for some podunk palace of crap whose most notable feature is one of the only Chik-fil-A franchises in Northern California, but why would one feel the desire to brand a gilded monument to consumerism as elegant as San Francisco Centre with the declass "Shopping Town" moniker?
Thankfully, there is another Westfield, and they make sports cars that could be subtly referred to as "rather quick." Somewhat the inverse of a shopping town, in fact. And founder Chris Smith has just sold the marque to Potenza Sports Cars Ltd., which is a company we've never heard of. Will Bridgestone sue? I sure did like those RE090s on my Legend...
Westfield Sportscars sold to Potenza [AutoIndustry, UK]
Think Global, Drive Local: Westfield's Recycled Mazda Kit Car [Internal]


text:
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — LSU has announced that Zach Mettenberger's playing career with the Tigers is officially over.
Mettenberger injured his left knee while unloading a 32-yard completion in the fourth quarter of No. 14 LSU's 31-27 victory over Arkansas last Friday, and LSU coach Les Miles confirmed the severity of the injury on Wednesday.
Shortly after Friday's game, Miles initially expressed hope that Mettenberger's injury did not involve any torn ligaments and that he'd be ready to return for a bowl game that the Tigers will likely play in January, depending on the bowl bid they accept this Sunday.
Instead, Mettenberger will require surgery and his rehabilitation will take place when he would have been preparing for next spring's NFL draft.
"We are very disappointed for Zach," Miles, who is on a recruiting trip, said in a written statement provided by LSU. "He's been a tremendous leader for our team and he's as a competitive a guy as I have ever been around. He's had a great impact on our program.
"I know Zach will work extremely hard to rehabilitate his knee and I don't anticipate this injury having any impact on what should be a great future in the NFL," Miles added.
Mettenberger had been widely projected as an early round draft choice. He passed for 3,082 yards and 22 touchdowns this season, getting within 266 yards of breaking Rohan Davey's 2001 LSU record for yards passing in a season.
Freshman backup Anthony Jennings, who led a game-winning, 99-yard touchdown drive against Arkansas, likely will start the bowl game.
Mettenberger is the only player in LSU history to throw for 2,500 or more yards in back-to-back seasons and his finished his career with a 19-6 record as a starter.
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — LSU has announced that Zach Mettenberger's playing career with the Tigers is officially over.


text:
This homey pilaf is infinitely versatile. Instead of rice, you can make it with quinoa, wheat berries, or bulgur. You can also swap out the white beans for cooked lentils, black-eyed peas, or chopped seitan. Or add some heat with a minced jalapeño chile. Recipe from One-Dish Vegan © 2013 by Robin Robertson. Reprinted by permission of The Harvard Common Press.
Serves: 4
- 1 tablespoon olive oil or 1/4 cup water
- 1 large sweet onion, chopped
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 8 ounces shiitake mushrooms,
stemmed and sliced (about 2 cups)
- 1 1/4 cups uncooked brown rice
- 2 cups vegetable broth
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 4 scallions, chopped
- 8 ounces fresh baby spinach
- 1 1/2 cups cooked or 15 to 16-ounce can white beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 tablespoon minced fresh dill or basil
Heat the oil or water in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion and cook until soft, about 7 minutes. Add the garlic and mushrooms and cook about 3 minutes or until the mushrooms are tender.
Stir in the rice and cook, stirring, for 1 to 2 minutes. Stir in the vegetable broth and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat, season with salt and pepper to taste, cover, and simmer for 35 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Uncover, and add the scallions and spinach, stirring until the spinach wilts. Stir in the beans and dill. Cook for 5 minutes longer, or until the broth is absorbed and the rice is tender. Taste and adjust the seasonings if needed. Serve hot.
- For more ways to use brown rice, explore Classic Rice Dishes.


text:
VEGF, vascular permeability factor, VPF
This test measures the amount of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in your blood. VEGF is a substance that helps encourage the growth of new blood vessels. Your body makes more VEGF in certain cases. For example, if your tissues aren't getting enough oxygen, they may make more VEGF so that new blood vessels grow to bring in more oxygen. Your lungs contain VEGF because good blood flow is vital there.
But VEGF also plays a role in cancer growth. Cancers need an ample blood supply. As a tumor grows larger, its cells can become hungry for oxygen. The cancer encourages new blood vessels to grow to supply it. Most tumors show higher levels of VEGF. Sometimes higher levels mean a lower chance of survival. In addition, VEGF may be important in the process of metastasis. This is when cancer spreads to other places within your body.
VEGF can also promote "leakiness" of blood vessels. This can lead to swelling in surrounding areas. This can be especially harmful during brain cancer, because it can increase pressure within the skull and may lead to brain damage.
Certain cancer treatments target VEGF. This test may be used to tell how well the treatments are working.
You may need this test if your healthcare provider wants to find out how quickly a tumor is growing. He or she might also order this test to see if your cancer is responding to treatments that work against VEGF. A number of cancer treatments work against VEGF.
If you have cancer, your healthcare provider may order tests to check for possible complications linked to certain anti-VEGF treatments. These complications include:
High blood pressure
Liver damage
Underactive thyroid
Many things may affect your lab test results. These include the method each lab uses to do the test. Even if your test results are different from the normal value, you may not have a problem. To learn what the results mean for you, talk with your healthcare provider.
Higher levels of VEGF have been linked to many types of cancer.
The test is done with a blood sample. A needle is used to draw blood from a vein in your arm or hand.
Having a blood test with a needle carries some risks. These include bleeding, infection, bruising, and feeling lightheaded. When the needle pricks your arm or hand, you may feel a slight sting or pain. Afterward, the site may be sore.
If your blood sample is mishandled by your healthcare provider or the lab, the results may not be accurate. Medicines such as cholesterol medicine (statins) can increase VEGF levels. High platelet levels can also affect the results.
You don't need to prepare for this test. Be sure your healthcare provider knows about all medicines, herbs, vitamins, and supplements you are taking. This includes medicines that don't need a prescription and any illicit drugs you may use.


text:
Located a few minutes away from the famous Jamâe lafnae square and the souks, our fine Riad stands just ten yards away from the historic Bab Doukala gate, and offers direct access to motor vehicles (attended parking available).
The Riad can accommodate between 2 and 11 guests, and the whole house can be booked by a single group.
With its inventive and delicate cuisine, this magical Riad is the ideal place to degustate the delicious flavours of Morocco.
all our rooms have private bathrooms and 3 of them are airconditioned
You can relax in the patio with the fountain sounds or on the terrace, and enjoy the unbeatable quietness of the Red City and the snow-covered Atlas mountains.
Riad Massin is well located: it offers you very easy access (parking at 50 m) proximity of the Famous Pacha Glaoui Palace, the main bus station, supermarket and new city at 5 minutes walk.